US Dollar

I have been bullish on the dollar since the end of the deep recession of 2008-9. The long term view
was that the dollar could rise from the deeply depressed low 70s level back then to the 100 level
by 2020. I did not posit faster economic growth than the world could muster, but that the US
balance of trade would gradually improve reflecting increasing fuel efficiency, rising domestic
hydrocarbon production and a continued slowing of real consumer spending growth on the basis
of less favorable demographics. The rise in the dollar up to the 105 level by the end of 2016
represented a considerable overshoot of my projection. $USD Daily

Slow global economic growth in the intervening years led to a contraction of global trade and
favored the dollar by too large a margin. The sharp decline in the value of the dollar since the end
of 2016 reflects stronger global economic performance, stronger trade, and some deterioration of
the US trade balance. In addition, the dollar was heavily overbought by the end of 2016.

The chart reveals that the dollar sits well above longer term technical support, and it is tempting
to extend the dollar's downtrend line significantly further in the months ahead. Since the end of
fixed exchange rates way back when in the 1970s, I have often been been surprised by the strong
volatility of the dollar and the other major currencies, so far be it from me to argue that the
dollar is about to bottom out.

In my view, the dollar has dropped into a  reasonable area just below the 90 level, and with export
sales rising at a reasonable rate, I am reluctant to become too bearish now.

______________________________________________________________________________